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<p style='line-height:16.0pt'><font size=1 color=black face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black'>SPIEGEL ONLINE -
May 15, 2007, 05:38 PM<br>
URL: <a
href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,483050,00.html"
target="_blank">http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,483050,00.html</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<h4 style='line-height:16.0pt'><b><font size=1 color=black face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black'>MOTHER NATURE'S HELPING
HAND<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h4>
<h3><b><font size=4 color="#c11919" face=Verdana><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Verdana'>Mystery of Alexander's Great Conquest Unravelled<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h3>
<p style='line-height:16.0pt'><b><font size=1 color=black face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black;font-weight:bold'>The
island-city of <st1:City w:st="on">Tyre</st1:City> (<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Sour</st1:City>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:country-region></st1:place>)
was considered unconquerable, until Alexander the Great marched up its
causeway. Researchers have now revealed that the conquerors actually had a
little help -- from Mother Nature.</span></font></b><font size=1 color=black
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:16.0pt'><font size=1 color=black face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black'>The Lebanese town of <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Tyre</st1:place></st1:City>, one of the longest
standing settlements in the world, sits atop the remains of an ancient, bloody
and peculiar military battle. In 332 B.C., Macedonian conqueror Alexander the
Great laid waste to the wealthy trading city, which was at the time considered unassailable
atop a small rocky island. Today, <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Tyre</st1:place></st1:City>
juts out from the Lebanese coast on a tongue-shaped strip of land, the days of
island refuge long since past.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:16.0pt'><font size=1 color=black face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black'>The siege is famous not
only for its strategic and historical significance -- capturing the city was
key to Alexander's conquest of the Persian Empire -- but also for the
engineering feat that won Alexander the battle.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt'><font size=1 color=black
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black'>At
some point during his seven-month siege of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Tyre</st1:City></st1:place>, Alexander built an almost
kilometer-long causeway of timber and stone to get from the mainland to the
island. But it had remained a mystery just how an army of sparsely equipped
soldiers were able to lay a road through the several-meters-deep sea.
Researchers now believe Alexander the Great had some help from Mother Nature. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt'><font size=1 color=black
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<!-- Vignette StoryServer 5.0 Thu Jan 04 09:10:52 2007 -->
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt'><font size=1 color=black
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black'>French
geo-archaeologist Nick Marriner analyzed long cores of sediment from the land
now connecting <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Tyre</st1:City></st1:place>
with the Lebanese coast. "We found several fragments, ceramic tiles and
pieces of wood," Marriner told SPIEGEL ONLINE. "But there was no
proof that these were used in the construction." The researchers also
found several shells of a certain kind of mussel in the sediment that thrived
in shallow coastal waters. The researchers concluded that rising sea levels had
shrunk the island over time, leaving the newly covered areas as brackish
lagoons. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='line-height:16.0pt'><font size=1 color=black face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black'>While <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Tyre</st1:City></st1:place> was approximately six kilometers wide
8,000 years ago, it shrank to about four kilometers over the next 2,000 years,
Marinner reported in <i><span style='font-style:italic'>Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences USA</span></i>. The researcher concluded that the
newly sunken parts of the island made it difficult for waves to reach the
shore. As a result, sediment from the coast accumulated in the space between
the mainland and the island, leaving a sandy land-bridge just below the surface
of the water, on top of which Alexander the Great could build his road to an
historic victory.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<div align=center>
<table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width=750
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<td valign=top style='padding:0pt 0pt 0pt 0pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:16.0pt'><font
size=3 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:
Verdana;color:black'><a
href="http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/0,5538,PB64-SUQ9MjE2NDImbnI9Mg_3_3,00.html"><font
color="#990000"><span style='color:#990000;text-decoration:none'><img
border=0 width=750 height=346 id="_x0000_i1032"
src="cid:image002.jpg@01C7975D.6A5422C0" align=middle></span></font></a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt'><font size=1 color=black
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black'>CNRS<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt'><font size=1 color=black
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black'>Both
natural and man made: A reconstruction of how <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Tyre</st1:place></st1:City> used to look 8,000 (left) and 6,000
(right) years ago.</span></font><font color=black face=Verdana><span
style='font-family:Verdana;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<div align=center>
<table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width=750
style='width:562.5pt'>
<tr>
<td valign=top style='padding:0pt 0pt 0pt 0pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:16.0pt'><font
size=1 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:
Verdana;color:black'><a
href="http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/0,5538,PB64-SUQ9MjE2NDImbnI9Mw_3_3,00.html"><font
color="#990000"><span style='color:#990000;text-decoration:none'><img
border=0 width=750 height=349 id="_x0000_i1047"
src="cid:image003.jpg@01C7975D.6A5422C0" align=middle></span></font></a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt'><font size=1 color=black
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black'>CNRS<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt'><font size=1 color=black
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black'>In
332 B.C. a shallow sand bank connected the island with the mainland. Today's
land formation (right) is a result of a damm that Alexander the Great built,
according to researchers.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<div align=center>
<table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width=750
style='width:562.5pt'>
<tr>
<td valign=top style='padding:0pt 0pt 0pt 0pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:16.0pt'><font
size=1 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:
Verdana;color:black'><a
href="http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/0,5538,PB64-SUQ9MjE2NDImbnI9Ng_3_3,00.html"><font
color="#990000"><span style='color:#990000;text-decoration:none'><img
border=0 width=750 height=500 id="_x0000_i1055"
src="cid:image004.jpg@01C7975D.6A5422C0" align=middle></span></font></a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt'><font size=1 color=black
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black'>Golvin
/ CNRS<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt'><font size=1 color=black
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black'>Ancient
perspective (illustration): the siege of <st1:City w:st="on">Tyre</st1:City>
is legendary, also because it enabled Alexander to take the rest of the <st1:place
w:st="on">Persian empire</st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<div align=center>
<table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width=750
style='width:562.5pt'>
<tr>
<td valign=top style='padding:0pt 0pt 0pt 0pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:16.0pt'><font
size=1 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:
Verdana;color:black'><a
href="http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/0,5538,PB64-SUQ9MjE2NDImbnI9MQ_3_3,00.html"><font
color="#990000"><span style='color:#990000;text-decoration:none'><img
border=0 width=750 height=500 id="_x0000_i1071"
src="cid:image005.jpg@01C7975D.6A5422C0" align=middle></span></font></a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt'><font size=1 color=black
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black'>CNRS
/ DigitalGlobe<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:16.0pt'><font size=1 color=black
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black'>A
modern view of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Tyre</st1:City></st1:place>
shows how much Mother Nature helped Alexander the Great. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='mso-margin-top-alt:.75pt;margin-right:
0pt;margin-bottom:.75pt;margin-left:0pt;text-align:center;line-height:16.0pt'><font
size=1 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:black'>
<hr size=1 width="100%" noshade color="#cccccc" align=center>
</span></font></div>
<p style='line-height:16.0pt'><font size=1 color=black face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Verdana;color:black'>© SPIEGEL ONLINE 2007<br>
All Rights Reserved<br>
Reproduction only allowed with the permission of SPIEGELnet GmbH<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='mso-margin-top-alt:.75pt;margin-right:
0pt;margin-bottom:.75pt;margin-left:0pt;text-align:center;line-height:16.0pt'><font
size=1 color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Verdana;
color:black'>
<hr size=1 width="100%" noshade color="#cccccc" align=center>
</span></font></div>
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